Dolohov's Regret
by SnuggleKitten69
Summary: Dolohov contemplates his actions and regrets one in particular.
1. Regrets - Budapest

-o-o-o-o-o-

December 2, 1998, 3:52 am, The Danube River, Budapest, Hungary

-o-o-o-o-o-

It was a cold December morning.

Antonin Gregorovich Dolohov stood on the grotesquely modern dock, awaiting the barge.

He had been contemplating all that had happened since that dreadful June evening in 1996.

He could remember that night, and his fateful mistake, with the clarity of a pensieve projection.

He could not recall how he had managed to escape to Budapest. The paths were too convoluted - too numerous to keep track of the million decisions it had taken him to get here.

"How could I have been so stupid?" he thought. He'd cast the spell on dozens of half-bloods and mudbloods. This was the first, and last, time it would kill him.

The Danube looked like an empty field of blackness as the lights from the smoking factories and container cranes sparkled like diamonds in the wind-driven undulations of the water.

He looked up in surprise, his wand suddenly in his hand, as the round bumpers of the barge gently squeaked against the concrete of the dock.

No expensive gangplanks for the dead, it seemed.

The flat scow was covered with stacks of plain, wooden coffins. It was nothing more than a vessel for unfinished sentences, unrealised dreams, incomplete errands, and unresolved regrets.

He nodded to the boatman as he hopped down to what passed as decking on the barge and quickly turned his gaze upwards. The cracked, scarred timbers reminded him too much of the safe house in Minsk where his last few remaining NKVD comrades had held up - he had been there less than a day when his hunter found them and incinerated them to fine, white ash.

He ducked between the stacked crates and hoped he had gone unnoticed. He had checked himself several times, using different methods, to ensure he had no trace or monitoring charms on himself, his belongings, and his wand. He could find no hint of foreign magics.

He sat heavily upon the deck, still masked by coffins, just to take a moment of rest while the crew did their grisly work.

After what seemed an eternity, the barge slipped away from the pier almost silently; only a slight sound of worn rubber against concrete gave away its departure. He may have slept a few moments, but he was not certain.

His liaison for the Slavic Brotherhood had told him the Brotherhood contact would meet him on the barge. Now that it had slipped its moorings, he stood and became more alert. Other than the lights of the harbor, the only illumination was the boatman's lantern and the dim navigation lights - blood red and killing-curse green.

He tensed, or would have, at the sound. He knew the sound well. He'd done it himself a small number of times to others - when he had slid his knife between the first and second vertebrae and pithed a guard to prevent them from crying out while the mess was kept to a minimum.

He found himself in a full body bind. The only thing he could move were his eyes. He presumed whomever had caught him also placed a sticking charm so he would not fall over due to the gentle swaying of the deck.

"Antonin, it has been far too long," the voice of his hunter silkily washed over him like a gentle breeze.

He felt a hand glide up over his back to rest upon his shoulder.

"I missed you by just a few minutes in Cairo and only by a few moments in Minsk," he heard from just behind his right ear.

"I do like the location you've chosen for our final meeting, however," the hunter whispered breathily. "It's so appropriate."

Finally coming into his line of sight, he looked into his killer's ethereal grey eyes. He would have mewled in panic and fear, were he able, as she withdrew a short, sharp knife.

"And now, we dance..." were the last words he would ever hear.


	2. Aftermath - Pyrford

**Aftermath**

The signal bell for the inbound apparition point within the manor rang. Hermione looked up at the clock and was surprised it was half six in the morning. "_Harry is going to be annoyed with me. Again!_" she thought.

She placed a bejeweled bookmark in the book, set it on the side table next to her chair, stood, and walked towards the apparition point.

She opened the doors to the library and was immediately assailed by the aromas of fresh-baked bread and slow-roasted meats. Her stomach grumbled loudly as her salivary glands seemed determined to flood her mouth in anticipation of consuming said scrumptious food.

Desperately ignoring the scents coming from the labours of Harry's combined irritation with her reading too late and his concern over Luna not having checked in as scheduled, Hermione continued walking towards the foyer while running the list of people on the apparition authorised list. "_It isn't Neville, Susan, or Hannah – they would always owl ahead first. Not Fred nor George – Angelina and Katie are still keeping them busy growing the family. Not Remus nor Rolanda – they're still in Spain. Not Sirius nor Ginny – they're likely still asleep from a three-week-long shag_." She continued through the rather short list of people, ignoring the most obvious choice. She knew it had to be someone they trusted, or the house elves would have rung the intruder bell and the thestrals would have food for a week.

At least that's what had happened the last time someone had been foolish enough to try to break through the wards with ill intent. She smiled at the memory of the look on Draco's face when Harry had given him the Malfoy head-of-house ring and announced to the Great Hall that he hoped the new Lord Malfoy was a better friend than the previous one had been. Draco's face had gone from disdain to anger, to sorrow, to calculating, then finally rested on a smile Hermione would later describe as him being genuinely happy for the first time in his life.

Draco had immediately put the ring on, claimed his status as Lord Malfoy, dissolved his betrothal to Pansy, and rushed over to embrace Millicent Bulstrode in a hug that turned into a kiss that became too intimate for the other students in the Great Hall.

It had only taken Hermione a small amount of guile and magic to tip the scales for the elder Malfoy to become enraged and careless enough to attack the wards of Potter Manor directly without any support.

Lost in thought and sporting a small smile, Hermione never saw the spell until it was on its way or the blonde-haired, grey-eyed, bushy-haired-witch-seeking missile until it hit her and she was spun around by the tangential trajectory of the impact.

The cushioning charm Luna had cast on Hermione's body had the two witches floating in air and a moaning, crying, deliriously happy Luna giving Hermione mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, if such required lots of tongue and needful, roaming hands slipping beneath the sleep shirt and knickers Hermione was wearing.

After a rather wet, nose-breathing-required, desperate kiss, Luna pulled back and looked at Hermione. "By the Goddess have I missed you!" Luna cried out, tears running down her cheeks before she clamped on to Hermione's mouth again.

Hermione, too, was euphorically ecstatic that their errant little witch had returned. In her mind, all was not right in the world unless she had Harry and Luna within arm's reach of her. Her fingers deftly unbuttoned Luna's blouse and were about to undo the smaller witch's brassiere to achieve more skin contact when she felt Luna's warm body suddenly against her. Luna broke the kiss.

"Thank you, Tippy," both Luna and Hermione said in unison, as they felt their clothes vanished and their warm bodies touching one another.

"Actually, Tippy is watching breakfast for me," they both heard the amusement in Harry's voice. As Luna was atop Hermione and Hermione floated upon the cushioning charm, they both looked in the direction of his voice and saw a delectably naked Harry slowly walking towards them.

Both girls were immediately reminded of the reasons Harry was still sought after by most of the witches in the magical realms of the world.

Many would claim he was desired for the wealth he had inherited from the House of Potter, or the rewards he'd accumulated from the slaying of Tom Riddle, or the spoils awarded to him in the form of fines levied against issueless death eater families, or the income from the sale of the carcass of the basilisk.

Some would speculate it was due to his virility as both a warrior in physical strength and a wizard in magical ability.

For both of them, it was the genuine love with which Harry approached them.

He floated the two of them over to him and brought them upright so he could hug them both properly.

"By the grace of the Grey Lady, have I missed you!" Harry exclaimed as he looked at Luna and pulled both witches to him tightly. Magic coalesced around the trio as all thoughts of any distractions fled.

Without even the tell-tale pop of apparition, the corridor was suddenly empty. At the same time, the luxuriously large bath within the master suite splashed as three entwined bodies suddenly entered the blood-warm water.

-o-O-o-O-o-

Hours later, a fully-sated trio dozed in bed. Harry was the first to fully awaken. He felt Hermione on his right, using his chest as a pillow. He looked down at her and noted she had drooled on his stomach. For him, this was a sign she was truly content.

He felt the body on his left stir and looked over. Luna had been snuggled firmly against him with her head buried in the pit of his arm. She lifted her head and looked at Hermione before she looked up at Harry.

"Good morning, Beloved," Harry whispered happily to her.

"I doubt it is still morning, Cuddles," Luna replied. She disentangled her arms from Hermione's sleeping form and kissed Harry quickly, "I'll be right back!" she softly exclaimed as she slid off the bed and daintily ran to the loo.

With the jostling of the bed, Hermione, too, began to awaken. She raised her head slightly, slurping a bit of her drool before her cheeks cherried in embarrassment at her habitual actions. "I was having the best dream," she said with a hint of sadness. "Luna had come home and we were…"

Harry shushed her by running his hands through her hair. "Silly witch. That was no dream. She'll be back directly," he said softly.

True to his word, a freshened and refreshed Luna stalked back into sight, walked around the bed, and curled up behind Hermione. She kissed Hermione behind her ear and wrapped an arm around her.

"My turn!" Harry said as he extricated himself from Hermione and rushed away.

"What the…?" Hermione groused before realising where he'd gone off to. She, too, suddenly had the same urge. Fortunately, the master suite had more than one such facility.

Harry re-entered the room and flopped down on the bed. He pulled Luna up against him. "Done?" he asked.

Luna smiled and nodded into his chest. "With this one, at least. Only three more to go," she replied then sighed in contentment. "I'm just happy I was able to complete this one before Yule. I wanted it to be special for her." She wriggled and pulled herself in tighter. "And for you."

"Family magics again?" he asked, curious to know if, yet again, she'd used her mother's family's magic to find her prey. He felt her shake her head in the negative.

"Too costly. Myrtle was willing to help again. She really likes Hermione and appreciates her friendship," Luna whispered. She sat up suddenly and looked at him with a mischievous smile. "He kept checking everything for tracking charms. He never thought to do a spirit walker detection spell," she said gleefully.

Harry snorted. "Stupid wizards," he replied with a laugh.

"Are you talking about the youngest Weasley boy again," Hermione asked as she re-entered the room.

Luna looked over and smiled. "No, we were talking about my new ring! Wanna see?" she asked in her best imitation of an excited little girl's voice. This wasn't actually much of a hardship for Luna since she was, at times, an excited little girl.

Hermione smiled as she sat on the bed behind Luna and put her hand on the younger witch's bare belly. "Let me see!" she quietly demanded.

Luna closed her eyes and released the spells which hid the ring. Hermione's eyes widened as the Dolohov family ring appeared on Luna's finger, fitting perfectly. "To the victor, the spoils," Luna sing-songed with a wry smile. She tugged the ring off, took Hermione's hand, extended her ring finger, and slid the ring on.

Hermione gasped at the feeling of the ring accepting her as its new Lady and Master.

"There! Happy Early Yule gift!" Luna said, pulling a still-surprised Hermione down for a quick peck.

Hermione's expression softened. She leaned down to a smug Luna, "Thank you, My Beautiful and Beloved," she whispered formally and tenderly kissed her. The moment of seriousness was broken by Luna's and Harry's snorting at Hermione's loud borborygmi.

"We'd best feed the nundu animagus before she eats us!" Luna said with a giggle.

Harry raised an eyebrow at Hermione's demure embarrassment. "Well, if SOMEONE would come eat dinner and not stay up all hours reading…" Harry trailed off.

"I know. I'm sorry. It won't happen again," Hermione said contritely.

Harry leaned over and, before their lips met, softly told Hermione, "Don't make promises you can't keep, Mione-Love," and then closed the hair's-breadth distance and kissed her deeply. He broke off the kiss when Hermione's stomach growled again.

"Come on! Pancakes!" Luna exclaimed happily before gently pushing Hermione up.

-o-O-o-O-o-

After an exceedingly odd breakfast of pancakes, roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, poached eggs, salmon, scones, clotted cream, and strawberry jam imported from France, the trio returned to the master suite to prepare for the waking world.

"Did you two want to go shopping today, lounge around and read, or perform more experiments on the various formulations of stamina potions Hermione is working on?" Harry asked as he gestured salaciously with his eyebrows at the last suggestion.

"I don't have any pressing needs to get more clothes," Luna replied then looked at Hermione, "and I am certain our Librarian has purchased any new books I could want," which caused Hermione to blush, look down, and nod with a small smile on her face.

Luna smiled knowingly before returning her eyes to Harry, causing her to subconsciously lick her lips. "If the Twins," who were Padma and Parvati, as Fred and George were known as "The Terrible Two", " weren't involved in something for me and could be here, or our little French maid," referring to Gabrielle Delacour, who was not yet certain she wanted to join their complex relationship, "are not expected over, the stamina potions likely won't receive a proper test," to which Harry shook his head.

"Then let's go for a walk," Hermione interjected. "I want to hear the story of this," she said, indicating the ring that now adorned her finger, "and why I was not invited along for the party," Hermione said in a stoic monotone.

Luna nodded solemnly and moved to get dressed.

Ten minutes later, they were out on the grounds, walking along a familiar path.

-o-O-o-O-o-

"…and the children they'd kidnapped in Murmansk were in such a sad, sorry state that I channeled my inner Harry and rescued them all. The Twins are looking after them all and helping them cope with their ordeals," Luna explained sadly. "So I felt fully and completely justified with the chastisement I unleashed."

Hermione looked at Harry with a knowing smile. "Let me guess," Hermione said, squeezing the little blonde's hand, "not even bodies to bury."

Luna smiled and responded brightly. "Nope! Naphtha mixed with powdered granite and magnesium doesn't leave much in the way of remains. Not to mention it doesn't leave a magic residue behind." One of Luna's favourite methods of eliminating messes was fire. The Terrible Two had learned quite a bit about fires and accelerants from Luna.

"And you didn't invite us along for some chastisement of our own?" Harry asked archly.

"Yes, Miss 'You are not allowed to go off on your own in search of revenge'," Hermione said sweetly. "If anything, I was the one who should have been there!" she exclaimed in frustration, but stopped her urge to stamp her foot in indignation.

"You would have made it too quick, Mia," Luna said, using her pet name for Hermione. "I know you think of them as rabid animals and prefer to relieve them of life quickly and mercifully, but you know that is not my way," Luna explained, the worry evident in her voice. She withdrew her hands from the other two and wrung them together nervously.

With fire in her eyes, she looked up at Hermione and put her hands on Hermione's shoulders. "I had to make him pay for the pain he caused you. For the hurt he caused Harry," Luna explained desperately as her eyes searched Hermione's for acceptance and understanding.

Hermione smiled sadly and nodded, knowing Luna normally wouldn't voice how much Dolohov's curse had hurt the little blonde witch when she'd seen what it had done to Hermione's previously-unblemished torso. Hermione absently traced the path the curse had taken through her body. Luna had used an ointment whose recipe had been in her mother's journal, along with an intensely painful, for Hermione, ritual in which the cursed, scarred skin had been removed with a goblin-wrought, runed dagger and new skin the pouring of another Lovegood family potion into the furiously-bleeding wound. The potion had hissed and bubbled and, several times, Luna had to wipe black ichor from the edges of the opening. Once the malignant ooze stopped, the wound healed rapidly from the inside out.

Luna looked down, her hands slid from Hermione's shoulders down to her hands, and their finger entwined. "And for the fear he caused me," she whispered just loud enough for the others to hear.

Hermione, keeping her fingers interlocked with Luna's, gently pulled Luna closer before suddenly forcing the younger girl's arms behind her back and slammed Luna against her. Luna didn't fight to get free, but whimpered in submission. She took Luna's hands into one of hers as she watched the surprised look on Luna's face. She pulled Luna's chin up with her free hand.

"Look at me," Hermione ordered in an angry hiss, her eyes glowing like honey with an ethereal power behind them.

Harry knew all of his girls' moods and personas. Mistress Hermione had just appeared.

Luna looked up into Hermione's eyes. Hermione kissed Luna hard. Her tongue demanded entry. Luna opened her mouth and groaned as Hermione's tongue ravaged across every bit of her mouth. She sucked Luna's tongue into her own mouth and, as she broke the kiss, bit down on Luna's lower lip just hard enough to draw blood - an injury which healed almost instantly, but communicated volumes.

"You will not put yourself at risk by going alone ever again. Do you know how frightened I was for you? Do you know how worried I was? Do you have any idea how concerned our Lord was? Do you know how many nights I cried? How many tear-stained sleep shirts I had? Do you know how many nights Harry stayed awake trying to comfort me? Do you understand?" Hermione demanded.

Luna looked down and nodded.

"Answer me," Hermione said commandingly. "Do you understand?"

"Yes, Mistress. I understand, Mistress," Luna answered passively but, inside, her heart both stung and sang. Stung because she, herself, knew fear and knew how both Harry and Hermione and, by extension, the entirety of those beholden to their combined houses had feared when she had gone out on her own. Sang because she knew that, although she had hurt her two lovers, they remained her loves, cared about her enough to chastise her for her foolhardiness, and would allow them to move passed this error in judgment.

Hermione was not finished yet.

"Don't you trust us and our battle-won skills? Don't you trust us watching your back? There are none I trust as much as you and Harry to watch my back. There is no one outside of our extended family I trust with that duty. Am I no longer worthy of your trust?" she asked softly as she released Luna's hand and turned away, hugging herself in her despair. "_How could she not see this would hurt me so?_" Hermione wondered sadly as she began to silently cry.

Luna felt like bursting into tears. "_How could she think that?_" she sobbed in her mind, but she knew in her heart of hearts how Hermione must have felt…still felt.

Luna fell to her knees in the snow and hugged Hermione's legs from behind as her tears began to fall.

Harry kept back. He knew this was a dynamic that had to play out. Although the three of them had been together intimately for more than five years, there were still times he knew he had to stand back and not try to save or pacify situations. "_As Xeno had said, 'Relationships only grow through honest communication. Sometimes that means pain that just won't disappear like the morning fog.'"_ Harry thought, watching the two girls painfully grow and strengthen their relationship.

Hermione slowly turned and pulled Luna up to her feet before she pulled her into a hug. "I'd thought I'd lost you. That we'd lost you. That you'd lost faith in us," Hermione whispered.

"Never!" Luna cried out hoarsely and buried her nose in Hermione's bosom.

Hermione felt Luna's shoulders quaking in silent sobs. She rested her chin on the top of Luna's head and pulled Luna into an even tighter hug.

"Harry and I would turn this world into a blackened cinder before we destroyed it utterly if we lost you, Little Moon," Hermione whispered fervently. She pushed Luna away but held her at arm's length and looked her in the eye. "I would die without you, My Luna," she whispered as she flared her eyes open, lowered her Occlumency shields, and pulled Luna into her mind.

Luna's eyes opened wide in surprise and awe at what was being done to her and what she was shown. It was like floating through a museum dedicated to her every interaction with Hermione. From her first gaze across the Great Hall, to blowing the doors off Ravenclaw tower and each and every mentally-debilitating spell she had cast after Hermione had heard how her house mates had treated her, to the first time Hermione had taken Luna to her dorm, pulled her onto her bed, closed the curtains, and admitted she'd fallen in love with her, to the morning before Luna had spoken with Myrtle and left for Prague without even leaving a note.

Hermione had used long-forgotten magics to discover where Luna had gone and why. Those spells had left Hermione utterly drained for three days – so drained that Harry feared for her life.

Luna was then drawn to another section of Hermione's memories – memories Hermione had not even allowed Harry access. The plans for what she would do if Luna were ever taken from her. How she would turn her body into a focus for all the magic embodied within the ley line junctions running beneath one of the many runic circles scattered around the world. With what Luna knew of magical physics from reading ancient tomes within the Lovegood archives, not a single grain of sand would be left in existence were Hermione to do as she had planned. She was fairly certain that, if Hermione performed her ritual during high noon, that even the sun would wink out of existence.

Finally, Luna was directed to another area. The very air was diffused with a golden glow and, upon a silk-covered dais, Hermione, Harry, and she lay intertwined as they had been that morning when they woke. There were other, indeterminate people laying on or near the dais but she could not see their faces. She knew from their body shapes that all were female. The smile of contentment on Hermione's face was almost painful to see in its purity. The love represented was almost tangible. She could feel her entire being tingle with a sense of comfort, belonging, togetherness, vitality, and love.

She could feel this was Hermione's idea of "Home!"

Suddenly she felt herself wrapped again in Hermione's arms, the cold of the morning being pushed away by the love and warmth of the beautiful witch holding her.

She felt Harry approach and wrap his arms around both of them. "Let's go home," he said and, without waiting for a reply, elf-popped them back to the manor.

A few minutes later, after they all drank the hot cocoa with marshmallows Tippy provided – unbeknownst to the two girls, laced with a dreamless sleep potion for her and Hermione. Luna was fairly certain, as they slipped off to sleep, they were making Hermione's vision of home a reality.

-o-O-o-O-o-


End file.
